Specularis (The Order - Vermish)

16: a looking glass can only show you so much (LAST CHAPTER)

Waking up beside Vera Stone will never fail to be the highlight of my every single day.

Mornings to me will forever remain a constant surprise. Having been a Knight for almost nine years, opening my eyes to a new dawn has always been a bizarre and overwhelming experience. And having her here right beside me as I welcome these daily breaths of relief, it gave me so much more to be hopeful for.

Every glimpse I have of her is a glimpse of my future. She was everything I never thought I would want, but now I'm scared to lose. There was not an ounce on my body that could comprehend how lucky I am to have this woman in my life. There were no words in existence that could explain why or how we work, but still, we do.

We are everything.

After taking in the sunlight beaming through her windows as if it was her first time in a long while, she finally returns my gaze, the smile on her wide like I have never seen before. There was perhaps an entire hour of just comfortable silence of us holding hands and breathing in the familiar yet surprisingly foreign air. Our lives had shifted in a matter of months and then weeks. And in a few hours, so much more could still happen to ruin this feeling we're feeling, but that didn't matter.

"So..." I eventually broke the quiet. "What's on the agenda today?"

"I have to talk to Council." Right, Council. There's a whole lot of explaining that needs to be done. Vera's unquestionably going to be grilled by that asshole Bernard. We must be thinking of the same thing judging from the look on her face. I squeezed her hand in hopes of reassuring her.

"Whatever happens, you know I'm here right?" I notice her exhale heavily as if she was relieved of the reminder, "And not just me."

"I know. We're gonna get through this no matter what comes after this meeting."

"Hey, I love you."

"I love you too."

"Grand Magus." The Head of the Council greeted the two of us with a curt nod. It was intimidating, to say the least, to feel the intent gazes of people who have the ability to decide our fate in mere minutes. I, of course, held my head high despite the trepidation beneath the surface.

"Thomas, you shouldn't call her that anymore-" As suspected, the annoyance called Mr. Bernard voiced what I can only assume is one of his first complaints. I couldn't help but somehow agree with him, though. Why was Thomas acting the opposite of what I expected?

"Last time I checked, I was the Head of this council." Thomas directed an expressionless stare to the nuisance and continued to confuse me and visibly the entire Council. Vera, on the other hand, kept her composure and greeted him back.

"It's good to see you all." Thomas motioned for the two of us to take a seat. "I can see you've brought with you the Temple Magus."

Vera ignored the question and clasped her hands together eagerly. "So, how do we begin this discussion?"

"Maybe we should start with the whys." Someone from the crowd proposed to which the Head agreed to.

"Why did you not tell us you lost your magic?" Was the why he chose to address first.

"And answer us truthfully. If only it were up to me, we would be using the glove of truth on you right now." The bothersome man spoke out of turn.

"But it isn't up to you, and this is not an interrogation." Vera was signalled to proceed.

"I didn't tell any of you for a few reasons. First of all, I thought for sure that I would get it back immediately, and I was right. Another reason, when was the last time you trusted a high-ranking Order member with your whole heart? And not because of manipulative charms or because they're the Grand Magus, but because you saw the leadership they possessed and believed in their capability. This position was something I worked hard for. And right before I accepted to become Grand Magus, I assured myself that I was going to be a better leader. The progress I wanted to make and my distrust for every single one of you was enough fear to drive me to keep secrets. If any of you found out, you would have deemed me unfit to lead and cast me out without hesitation. I didn't want to compromise my chances of succeeding."